Offences by Companies

(1) Where a person committing a contravention of any provision of this Act, rule or notification is a company, every person who at the time the contravention was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent commission of such offence. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other officers, such director, manager, secretary or other officers shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation for the purposes of this section: (a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; (b) "director" in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.